If you’ve been following me on Facebook for the past couple
of months, you’ll know that I think the world of these guys and their 2013
release, Desperation Blues. Yeah, I
know, I got to the party a little late and The Evil Engineer was pimpin’ them
and my life got in the way of my passions, but like any good fashionably late
partygoer, I’m bringing the good times along and we’ll run this rip roarin’
event deep into the following day!
Zed hail from The
Bay Area and bring a groovin’, semi-funky heavy blues rock with all the bells
and whistles. At times, they remind me of the mighty Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy,
Clutch and, (here’s an odd reference of sorts) Supergiant. Not that Zed sounds like any one of the
aforementioned artists, but perhaps if mixed in a blender with a handful of
cilantro and swamp grass the end result would sound a lot like Desperation Blues.
This four piece use the song as the vehicle for their
musical prowess to shine. We’re never assaulted with instrumental heroics to
make us roll our eyes, yet within each tune, there’s a subtle virtuosity being
had and that aspect makes the songs so damn rich in flavor. They never play more
than what the song needs, giving the songs the flamboyance and spice that it
needs in the most natural of ways. Quite simply, they bring classic rock into
the modern age.
The album kicks off with three rockers in a row…up tempo
and heavy in tonality, walls of distortion broken up by windows and passageways
of open space. Album opener, “Please”, is a prime example…the song is broken
open in so many different places that the song breathes and takes on a life of
its own. Within every wall recess, nook and cranny, the band drops in little
guitar flourishes or a bass nuance to make for a constant point of interest.
While the first three tracks are heavy and groovy as all get out, it’s the
little textural pieces that they add in that make the songs so compelling.
The title track and side one closer, “Crawl Back To You”,
are a bit of change in pace. “Desperation Blues” mines the motherload of funk,
both with 70’s-style low end mastery of Mark Aceves and with the dual wah’ed
out guitars of Greg Lopes and Pete Sattari, who’s lead vocal work is dripping
with passion. More of a mid-tempo burner, “Desperation Blues” is filled with
tension that finally breaks as the song comes to a close. “Crawl Back To You”
evokes the imagery of a backwoods cabin nestled deep within some muggy swamp.
The guitar work is awesome as Lopes nimbly plucks his way through the
arpeggios, and then when the rhythm section of Aceves and drummer Rich Harris
drop into the scene, well...it’s pure magic. Zed is no one trick pony. They’ve got a deep bag of tricks to delve
into and seem to be masters of them all.
And folks….that’s just side one!!!
Side two opens with “More”, which just continues the amazing
journey that side one started us off on. Again, more of that funky bass groove
accompanied by a wall of heaviness and super sexy guitar work...oh, and
Sattari’s vocals…fuck! This song will have you shaking your ass, male and
female alike…I just envisioned this one playing in a strip club. Perfect pole
dancing theme song here, friends.
Don’t even get me started on “Rain”! Jesus…epic!
Okay…look. You get the gist. I could talk (err…type) about
every intricacy of this album, song by song, all day long, but we all have a
list of honey-do’s so I’ll cut this short. Songwriting is a craft, an art, and Zed has studied under rock history's
greatest. They’ve lived with the Zeppelin’s, Floyd’s, Beatles, and Stones, as
well as a laundry list of more modern artists and have studied the art of
piecing note to note, lyric to lyric, melody to melody, so forth and onward.
And, they’ve crafted themselves a near perfect record. This Zed ain’t dead, baby…this one’s just
getting started and I, for one, can’t wait to see what they have up their
sleeve for the next release. If it’s half as good as Desperation Blues, then we’re all in for a good time…but my bet is
that somehow, someway these guys will improve and grow even more. Check ‘em
out, buy the record twice…..you’ll wear out the first copy.
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